Introduction: Heritagizing Asian cities: space, memory, and vernacular heritage practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT Urban visions of modernity and nostalgia constitute two competing visions of the good life in Asia, which are both materialised in urban neighbourhoods. When and where old historic neighbourhoods are not razed to be replaced by highrises, modern residential blocks and shopping malls but instead retained, it is often under the banner of heritage. This theme section considers heritagization of Asian cities against the backdrop of modernisation and (sub)urbanisation, in articles focusing on Kolkata, Beijing, Hanoi and Taipei. The articles explore local people’s multiple experiences within lived environments in terms of modernity and heritage, not so much by focusing on how different visions of modernity and nostalgia are materialised through the label of heritage, but by describing and analysing the modalities of such nostalgia among different groups of people, as expressed and mediated in different forms and practices. We propose to capture the diverse cognitive, memorial, affective, emotional and imaginative aspects of heritage on the part of the people living with that heritage in terms of vernacular heritage, which we define as cultural heritage that is conceived, perceived, experienced, imagined and practiced by different groups of ‘lay people’ with varying connections to specific heritage sites, environments and practices.